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Elsevier

Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Computer Programming in Quantitative Biology

    • 1st Edition
    • R.G. Davies
    • English
    Computer Programming in Quantitative Biology covers the general background of Fortran coding and the more sophisticated computer programs likely to be encountered in quantitative biology. It discusses the application of over 40 appropriate and easily adaptable programming techniques to problems of major biological interest. Organized into 15 chapters, the book starts by providing an introductory outline of computer structure and function needed to appreciate many basic programming procedures. A chapter discusses some general principles underlying Fortran coding and the use of digital computers, with emphasis on major features of Fortran IV. Other chapters present short introduction to the statistical or mathematical techniques in each of the main sections under which program are described. These chapters also provide some aspects of matrix algebra that are essential for serious statistical programming and offer a general guide to efficiency in programming. All complete programs are accompanied by a flowchart and a detailed discussion. This book is a valuable source of information for biologists, computational biologists, research biologists, undergraduate students, and advanced or specialized students of biology.

  • Contamination in Tissue Culture

    • 1st Edition
    • Jorgen Fogh
    • English
    Contamination in Tissue Culture covers the sources, prevention, detection, and elimination of contamination in tissue culture. Composed of 12 chapters, the book describes the frequency of occurrence of contamination and the many different effects of contamination on cultured cells. After introducing the intraspecies contamination of cell cultures, the book explains a specific type of contamination, such as bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic contamination. A chapter in this book describes the reversible and irreversible alterations of cultured FL human amnion cells after experimental mycoplasmal infection. Chapters 9 and 10 examine the occurrence of tissue culture contaminants by electron microscopy and procedures for isolating and identifying viral contaminants. The concluding chapter covers sterility tests of media and solutions for tissue culture and the use of antibiotics. It also summarizes the major developments made as well as future challenges in the field. This book will be helpful to investigators, teachers, students, and technicians within the many disciplines of cell biology, physiology, cytology, virology, immunology, genetics, oncology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics, in which tissue and cell cultures are used, either as the primary object of research or as tools.

  • Avian Biology

    • 1st Edition
    • Donald Farner
    • English
    Avian Biology,Volume VIII assesses selected aspects of avian biology. It is generally the conceptual descendant of Marshall's earlier treatise,“Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds,” but is more than simply a revision of it. This volume consists of two relatively lengthy, diverse chapters that focus on adaptive significance of coloniality in birds and fossil records of birds. In particular, this volume looks into group phenomena related to central place systems, that is, systems in which one or more individuals move to and from a centrally located place in the course of daily activities. It also addresses selective factors that have been suggested to explain why individuals should form colonies rather than disperse within the available foraging space. This book will be useful as a reference material for advanced students and instructors in this field of interest.

  • Coactive Forest Management

    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    This book provides a theoretical basis and a collection of management science tools that account for the interactions between different components of a managed forest ecosystem. Accounting for these interactions is the rapid evolution of forest management away from a traditional agricultural commodities production problem to a multi-output problem that gives equivalent emphasis to nonmarket goods and the health of forest ecosystem itself. The book is a comprehensive theoretical demonstration of the breakdown of traditional benefit/cost analysis in the presence of forest ecosystem (or demand) inteactions and is followed by a set of management science (optimization) procedures that address these interactions and better capture the ecosystem function.

  • Circannual Clocks

    Annual Biological Rhythms
    • 1st Edition
    • Eric Pengelley
    • English
    Circannual Clocks: Annual Biological Rhythms documents the Proceedings of a Satellite Symposium of the 140th Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in San Francisco, California, February 25, 1974. The purpose of the symposium was to summarize the present state of knowledge on endogenous annual rhythms (circannual clocks), and to point out their biological significance and importance. The presentations included studies on the following: the circannual rhythms of an arthropod, the cave crayfish, Orconectes pellucidus inermis, and a cnidarian, Campanularia flexuosa; the occurrence, manifestation, and importance of circannual rhythms in birds with different migratory habits; and the importance of circannual rhythms in hibernating mammals. Also covered are the relationships between circannual rhythms and endogenous lunar and tidal rhythms; circannual rhythm of reproduction in male European starlings; the adaptational value of internal annual clocks in birds; the expression and suppression of the circannual antler growth cycle in deer; and circannual rhythms in man.

  • Before Water Management Measures

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 15A
    • English
    The ultimate motivation for the study which is the subject of this book was the need to draw conclusions on the impact of man's activity on natural ecosystems. The results characterize the situation of the south-Moravian floodplain forest in the period of fading uncontrolled floods before the extensive technical measures successively changed the moisture regime by eliminating inundation and lowering the level of underground water. This publication is unique in Czechoslovakia as it records the ecological situation in the floodplain forest prior to the major and irreversible changes. The study also documents the exceptional role played by the Central-European floodplain forest in maintaining the gene pool and structure of the one thousand or so species in flora and fauna of an agricultural region.

  • Scale-Up and Automation in Plant Propagation

    Cell Culture and somatic cell Genetics of Plants
    • 1st Edition
    • Indra Vasil
    • English
    Scale-Up and Automation in Plant Propagation reviews methods of automation and scale-up of plant propagation in vitro. It looks at the large scale clonal propagation of plants, or micropropagation, as the first major practical application of plant biotechnology. It also discusses the advantages and limitations of micropropagation and evaluates current methods of commercial micropropagation. Organized into 13 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the benefits of scaling up and automating plant propagation before proceeding with a discussion of synthetic seeds and their use for plant propagation, along with problems and economic considerations associated with synthetic seed technology. It then considers the implementation of somatic embryogenesis technology for clonal forestry, the development and commercialization of bioreactor technology for automated propagation of potato microtubers and lily microbulbs, and approaches to automated propagation of fruit trees. Other chapters focus on issues of cost reduction and development of ""new"" products, scale-up and operation of prototype bioreactors for plant propagation, and application of machine vision technology to scale-up and automated evaluation of somatic embryogenesis in sweet potato. The book also describes methods of measurement and control of the environment in culture, environmental factors affecting photosynthesis, and use of robotics and field transplanters in the automation of plant propagation. Scientists and plant breeders will find this book extremely useful.

  • Fearing Food

    Risk, Health and Environment
    • 1st Edition
    • Julian Morris + 1 more
    • English
    Environmental and consumer activists have for a long time blamed pesticides, fertilizers and other aspects of intensive farming for causing environmental degradation and human disease. Yet, as the authors in this book show, intensive farming has enabled growth in food production at a rate greater than population growth, thereby ensuring that people are better fed than ever before, whilst simultaneously limiting the effect of farming on the environment.The authors debunk numerous pervasive myths, including:Myth: Pesticides are bad for the environment and bad for human healthFact: Synthetic pesticides enable the production of large quantities of fresh fruit and vegetables, which means that people are better protected against cancer. In addition, the synthetic pesticides themselves are often less toxic than natural pesticides. Overall, synthetic pesticides present a net gain in health terms.Myth: Antibiotic resistance in animals is spreading to humans.Fact: The use of antibiotics in young animals keeps meat prices low and does not materially contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans.Myth: Nitrate fertilizers are a threat to human health.Fact: Nitrate fertilizers are probably beneficial to human health.Myth: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are bad for the environment and bad for our health.Fact: Many environmental problems associated with agriculture can be reduced by using GMOs, which have the potential to improve yields and quality which simultaneously reducing associated inputs, such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Commercially produced GM foodcrops have no known impacts on human health and future GM foodcrops are likely to have health benefits (enabling such things as low-fat chips/french fries and non-allergenic peanuts).Myth: Instances of food poisoning would be reduced if we had more regulations.Fact: Instances of food poisoning in the UK may have been exacerbated by over-cautious government regulation.Myth: Subsidies are needed to order to ensure that food and fish are produced in environmentally sound ways.Fact: Subsidies to fisheries and farming have caused widespread environmental degradation.Myth: Packaging and transporting food is environmentally unfriendly.Fact: Packaging enhances the shelf life of products and reduces wastage during transport. Transporting food allows society to take advantage of different environmental and socio-economic conditions that exist in different places.

  • Social Insects V4

    • 1st Edition
    • Henry Hermani
    • English
    Social Insects, Volume IV is the last installment of a four-volume treatise and is dedicated to the discussion on wasps and ants. Comprised of four chapters, this volume focuses on the sociality of various types of ants as their group has very diverse habits. The first chapter describes the general biology and behavior of social wasps and discusses the cyclical populations, nest associates, and communal defense of wasps. Chapter 2 introduces the broad and general overview of the biology of ants, including their behavior, food collection, and nest construction. Chapters 3 and 4 present the biology of army and fungus ants, respectively. This volume also explains how ants are defined and identified, including their colony composition and behavior. As with the previous volumes, this volume seeks to be of service to students, researchers, and scientists in various fields of research, particularly entomology, social biology, zoology, and biological science.

  • Inorganic Nutrition of Plants

    • 1st Edition
    • F.C. Steward
    • English
    Plant Physiology, Volume III: Inorganic Nutrition of Plants deals with the inorganic nutrition and metabolism of plants. The book explores the role of elements, other than carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which are essential to, or used by, plants in their vital processes. It summarizes the knowledge about mineral nutrition of plants and presents a philosophy of plant nutrition in general. This volume is organized into six chapters and begins with a brief history of mineral nutrition of plants, as well as the media from which plants draw their nutrients, such as the soil and artificial culture medium. The book then discusses the requirements for specific elements, the symptoms incurred by their deficient supply, and the evidence that a given element can be considered essential. The next chapters focus on the inorganic nutrition of microorganisms, general functions of the essential nutrient elements, and the biological situations in which elementary nitrogen is converted to the organic form. The book concludes by analyzing the soil as a complex biological system and its implication for the interpretation of the nutrition of higher plants. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in plant nutrition and plant physiology.

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